


That Little Girl

by Name_Pending



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Past Rape/Non-con, References to Ramsay's Abuse, Season/Series 05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 06:29:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12102780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Name_Pending/pseuds/Name_Pending
Summary: Theon remembers all that Ramsay had done to him. He deserved it. He knows that.But he won’t let it happen to Sansa.





	That Little Girl

Seven Years Ago

 

He’s with Robb as usual when he feels the tug at his arm and turns to see his best friend’s sister pulling at his sleeve. It’s the older of Robb’s sisters, the pretty one with perfect manners. Theon is about to ask her what she wants when he sees the flower in her hand.

“I brought you this, Theon” Sansa says, smiling prettily and offering it to him.

Robb grins at his sister while Theon blinks in surprise. Sansa is usually very kind to him but she doesn’t tend to bring him the gifts she usually only brings to her big brother. Though he’d never admit it, Theon is a little bit touched at her offer. He vaguely wonders if she’d ever offer her bastard brother Jon a flower, but decides that he doesn’t really care.

“Thanks, Sansa” he says, accepting the flower from the young girl - the stem is slightly bent from her fist, but it’s still a lovely gesture.

Sansa smiles brightly and then offers another similar flower to Robb, who takes it and kisses her cheek in thanks. Sansa says she’s going to go find more flowers for her mother and then she runs off, red hair bouncing around her shoulders.

Theon watches her go with a smile, holding the flower carefully in one hand and thinking to himself that Sansa Stark is a ray of sunshine in Winterfell.

 

Now

Sansa is not the innocent little girl she once was, and it has never been more obvious than it is when she looks Myranda in the eye and challenges her.

“I know what Ramsay is. I know what he’ll do to me.” Sansa doesn’t break eye contact as she continues. “If I’m going to die, let it happen while there’s still some of me left.”

Theon’s gaze flitters between Sansa’s face and the ground - he can’t hold eye contact with her, he’s not as strong as she is. He thought he was strong once, but he isn’t. Whatever little strength he might have possessed once, it’s gone now; Ramsay beat it out of him.

Theon remembers all the pain Ramsay gave him. It’s not so bad any more, in truth. Ramsay still hurts him, still cuts him because he likes the way Theon’s blood runs, but it’s not like it was on that Bolton cross. A lot of the pain is … psychological. It didn’t hurt him physically to watch Ramsay take Sansa as a woman in the most brutal way, but it had been one of the worst tortures Ramsay had ever inflicted on him. Watching him hurt Sansa that way…

He hasn’t broken her, though, and that amazes Theon. He’s broken and he knows it - he’s Reek. He deserves to be Reek. Ramsay changed him and made him into this new person, this new thing that is no longer Theon Greyjoy. Even Sansa sometimes calls him Reek, though he had to tell her to do that.

Sansa barely listens, though. She argues with Theon and glares at Ramsay. She takes his torture, his beatings and the rapes that Theon knows go on every night, and she still tries to get away. Theon himself accepted long ago that escape was impossible, but Sansa still tries. She doesn’t get it yet. She will one day, he knows.

But still … the way she looks now, staring with determination and hatred right at Myranda - who’s terrifying in her own way, nearly as twisted as her lover - Theon can almost believe that Sansa will persevere. She’s stronger than he realised. She’s not the little girl she once was.

Yet he can’t stop seeing her like that.

As he looks at her now, Theon sees past the grim determination and the aged features of a young woman who has been through far too much. He can still see the innocent little girl, can still hear her sweet voice asking for sweets and practicing her manners.

Sansa braces herself as Myranda pulls the string of her bow back further, and Theon suddenly finds himself having a flashback.

All of a sudden, he has a sudden memory - he can see her, the sweet little girl she was, holding a flower out to him. She had smiled so prettily and he had accepted her gift, pleased that she offered him the same kindness she did her brother. Sansa had been kind to him.

She was family. That little girl, this young woman, she is still family.

And if Myranda gets her own way, she’ll suffer in the same way Theon himself has. Myranda will hurt her and give her to Ramsay, and he’ll punish her. He’ll punish her in more terrible ways than he ever used on Theon, because she’s stronger and she’ll resist for longer.

Theon feels anger building up inside him at the thought of it, anger like he hasn’t felt in a long time. He can’t stand the thought of Ramsay hurting her the same way he hurt him. Ramsay’s already hurt her in ways Theon had only feared, and he knows that worse will come for her. Even after all she has endured, he knows that she still can’t imagine the worst that Ramsay Bolton is capable of.

He can turn her into a creature that is no longer Sansa Stark, just like he turned Theon Greyjoy into Reek. She doesn’t believe it, but neither did he. He knows better now. Ramsay will destroy Sansa Stark and he won’t even have the decency to kill her. She’ll be dead inside, and he will use her for his own gains. Like Myranda said, he already has plans.

Theon’s fist clenches at his side. He can’t let that happen. He can’t let Ramsay do to her what he has already done to him - he won’t let it happen.

Theon Greyjoy couldn’t save himself, but maybe he can save Sansa Stark. He owes her this much. He owes it to Robb and Eddard and Bran…

And so, before he can overthink it, he darts to the side and grabs Myranda around the waist. He lifts her before she has a chance to do anything more than scream, and he tosses her over the side. His fingers grip the railing as he watches her body hit the ground and split open; he barely hears the sickening crack.

He’s frozen for a moment, stunned at what he just did. Terror runs through him at the thought of what Ramsay will do to him when he sees.

But then he hears the sounds and knows that Ramsay is already coming back, and Sansa is still here. She’s staring at him in shock - she hadn’t expected that. Theon meets her eyes and sees it once again - she’s strong, she’s a woman grown, but there’s still something of that innocent little girl in her. And he can’t let Ramsay hurt her any more.

So he takes her by the hand and pulls her to the top of the wall of Winterfell. It’s a long way down but they don’t have a choice. No matter how bad the fall hurts, it won’t be anywhere near as bad as what Ramsay will do to them, do to her, when he finds out about Myranda.

Theon clasps her hand, and makes a silent promise to her - if they survive this fall, he will protect her. He will get her far away from Ramsay Bolton, he will get her somewhere safe. The Wall, maybe; Jon Snow may kill him, but he will protect Sansa.

He can’t take back all that Ramsay has already done to her, but he can stop him from taking the last little bit of her that is still that sweet little girl. He can still save her.

And by the way she looks at him, the way she grips his hand, he knows that she believes that.

Their hands clutch tightly to each other, and they jump.


End file.
